Stansted Airport mounts recruitment drive ahead of 'bumper' summer

With Covid vaccination rules for travellers due to ease this week the travel industry is preparing for the return of summer holidays abroad. The pandemic forced job losses across the industry so how are employers and job hunters feeling about the future of aviation?

To deal with the expected rise in demand London Stansted has hosted its first in-person jobs fair for more than two years, with the Essex airport looking to fill about 300 roles.

It's in stark contrast to October 2020 when the company announced 376 job losses after the "toughest summer ever".

Airlines, baggage handlers and plane cleaning companies are all keen to get recruiting and get a head start on what they hope will be a bumper year.

For job hunters it's all about getting back into an industry that's been largely off limits for two years.

Billy Green was training to be a pilot when the pandemic hit and the aviation industry ground to a halt.

"I was training to be a pilot but due to Covid and job losses it wasn't feasible at the time. I'm now looking to get back into the airport, back into aviation which is something I've wanted to do since I was young," he says.

"It's great to see the opportunities at the airport now - not just in the skies, but on the ground as well."

Mr Green says his dream is still to be a pilot, but for now it's a longer-term goal.

"I would like to get back to it in the next five years. But for now it's about finding a job and learning about different areas of the airport."

Ella Blayney has been studying the industry for three years and says she is surprised at how many jobs are on offer.

"I'm looking for a permanent job in aviation; I've been studying about it for three years so I'm looking to get into it," she says.

"There is more than I thought there was; stuff I hadn't even heard of, which is really encouraging; they need hundreds of people."

Stansted would normally handle about 28 million passengers a year, but Covid-19 restrictions led to just 7,543,779 million using it in 2020.

They are optimistic about the future and, with 90,000 passengers expected this weekend, they hope to reach pre-pandemic levels for the summer.

The airport's people director, Liz Austin, says they're looking to "recruit early and get ahead of the game" and hire everyone from engineering technicians to security staff and cleaners.

"The pandemic has impacted the industry like no other; we had to make some really difficult decisions and unfortunately we did have a lot of people who did choose to leave us through voluntary redundancy," she says.

She acknowledges that it is a tough labour market with lots of jobs on offer and says the airport is "having to work incredibly hard to attract people into the sector".

However, despite the challenges Ms Austin believes it's an "exciting time" to get back into the airport.

For the airport's partners it's a similarly sunny outlook.

Craig Ellis, from the airline cleaning service Up and Away, says there has been a lot of interest in the 16 roles his company is offering.

"We're going to be extremely busy this summer and with the footfall today I'm confident we'll get the extra staff," he says.

"Last year was very solemn; the industry has been affected heavily by Covid, but the footfall here today paints a picture that the recovery is coming."

Similarly, airlines are preparing for a boom with Ryanair hoping to take on about 200 new staff, including cabin crew, in March.

Lauren Dixon, the airline's UK recruitment manager, says the six courses to train those new staff in March is just the beginning, with hundreds of staff a month expected to be recruited.

"The pandemic has 100% knocked people out industry a lot of people have lost confidence in aviation," she says.

"We're 100% full steam ahead and looking for people to join us as soon as possible.

"There are always going to be difficulties but we just have to power through."

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]